Voluntary Enlistment
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BeBRIDGE №06 52 JAN./FEB. 2021 Voluntary enlistment MISSION “Join the army, What do you lead as West? they said. It’s a man’s HAND DEALER SOUTH N/S VUL. ♠ life, they said...” This cult KJ8754 W N E SOUTH 1. ♥ Q96 1♥ ♦ phrase that tells you to go Q105 1♠ Dble Pass 3♦ ♣ K fight and be active, taken Pass 4♥ from the Asterix albums HAND DEALER WEST NONE VUL. can sometimes be applied ♠ 10987 W N E SOUTH to bridge when a passive 2. ♥ KQJ5 1NT ♦ 1084 Pass 2♦ Pass 2♥ start is visibly doomed or ♣ A2 Pass 4NT when your partner has made a Lightner Double or HAND DEALER SOUTH ALL VUL. ♠ Q95 W N E SOUTH even when the opponents ♥ 3. KQJ865 1♦ ♦ Q65 have quickly bid their 2♥ Pass 3♥ 6♣ ♣ 10 contract without being Pass 7♣ Dble sure if it is the correct HAND DEALER SOUTH E/W VUL. ♠ one. You obviously have J92 W N E SOUTH ♥ 4. K87 1♠ no guarantee that this ♦ Q73 Pass 2♦ Pass 2NT(*) ♣ 9872 succeeds every time. Pass 3♠ Pass 4♣ Pass 6♠ (*) 12-14 HCP BeBRIDGE №06 JAN./FEB. 2021 53 ALAIN LÉVY'S LEADS homas Bessis plays bridge The full deal more often than before du- ring this Covid period - prac- ♠ A932 Ttically every day of the week. ♥ J10 Tournaments on BBO or other online sites ♦ A74 are offered throughout the week, most of ♣ 8753 them under the aegis of the ACBL, at very ♠ KJ8754 N ♠ 106 DEFENSIVE different starting times. Thomas alter- ♥ Q65 ♥ 942 PLAY nates his partnership between Cédric Lo- W E ♦ Q105 ♦ 862 ADVANCED LEVEL renzini and Frédéric Volcker and does not ♣ K S ♣ J10964 hesitate to tell me about his adventures, good or bad. Here are four committed ♠ Q leads from the pair Bessis-Volcker. ♥ AK873 ♦ KJ95 ♣ AQ2 My 1 Post-mortem advice And this is indeed what Thomas Bessis 1 Brilliant analysis No risk chose to lead - and it is the only one of his When you have to lead thirteen cards which does not give away against a suit contract this contract, and even leads to declarer and your four suits are going down, unless - eye for an eye - he fells headed by isolated the singleton King of Clubs behind Ace- honors, you often have to choose the least Queen! Bravo. Exceptional! bad. In this context, W N E SOUTH the worst leads are 1♥ 2 from small honors-third, with a lead from Jack- ♠ ♦ 1 Dble Pass 3 fourth in last position. Pass 4♥ The equation Leads from honor-fifth are the least bad, they YOUR MARKS is right are less dangerous ♠K 100 than from honor-fourth. ♠ These are choices for 7 60 your opening leads ♣K 40 depending on your cards and they can be Comments changed, of course, by Your hand is not very rich in immediate explicit auctions. tricks but you lay solid hopes on your two W N E SOUTH red Queens. The King of Clubs may be a 1NT third trick, but leading that honor can ruin Pass 2♦ Pass 2♥ your hopes in the suit, just like the lead Pass 4NT from one of your Queens. With this elimi- nation done, this is easy: you have to lead a Spade, but which one? North’s Double YOUR MARKS denies three Hearts (except if he has 15+ ♥5 100 points). His jump to 4♥ with two cards is ♥Q 60 thus explained by the presence of honors ♠10 30 that are more useful in a suit contract than in No-trump, even with only seven trumps. Comments The jump to 3♦ describes often a 5-5 and You have 10HCP, more than expected shortness in Spades rather than Clubs. This when North made a quantitative bid is perhaps the occasion for a brilliant ope- with theoretically 16-17HCP opposite 15- ning lead: the King of Spades. 17HCP. One thing is certain: you have to BeBRIDGE №06 54 JAN./FEB. 2021 bring down this contract on your own, East doesn’t have a single point in his hand. But make no mistake in your calcu- lations, you are playing for four tricks, not five - declarer is playing 4NT, not 3NT. And only Hearts can offer three tricks. With the Ace of Clubs as an entry, it all adds up. But be careful, King-Queen- Jack will only give two tricks. The third My can only come from your partner who © D-Keine certainly has zero points but can hold the advice 10 of Hearts. And to avoid any blocking, YOUR MARKS ♠5 100 2 you have to lead small from King-Queen- Construct Jack, a very unusual lead. ♥K 50 a plan ♦5 30 Each round in The full deal the auction gives Comments information about ♠ AQ5 The next two deals saw Fred and Thomas the distribution ♥ A10872 play against the Norwegians Helgemo - and strength of your opponents. By ♦ AQ2 Helness, one of the best pairs in the world, adding what you see ♣ 104 with a style just as aggressive as natural. This in your hand to this sequence is typical of their bidding style. ♠ N ♠ 643 information, you can 10987 They don’t bother with frills, which is more ♥ KQJ5 ♥ 93 sometimes construct W E often for the better - but not here. Thomas the plan that will ♦ 1084 ♦ 97653 allow you to set up is on lead, a seemingly obvious one with the ♣ A2 S ♣ 763 the number of tricks King of Hearts, but then he sees Fred double. necessary for the ♠ KJ2 The grand slam was bid offensively, but in a defense to beat the ♥ 64 sequence that is anything but precise. The contract or at least ♦ KJ Double is 100% Lightner: Fred thinks that threaten it. ♣ KQJ985 there may be a lead that beats this contract and it is not a Heart. South showed a violent 3 Objectives Post-mortem two-suiter with eleven or twelve cards in the Lightner Doubles Fred Volcker did indeed lead the Heart minors, so Fred has either a Diamond void against slams and 5 and found an unexpected support: the or the Ace of Spades. Thomas, in view of his lead directing Doubles cards, quickly dismissed underleading the against game first trick was won by Thomas Bessis’ 9 Queen of Diamonds, which will anyway be contracts aim to of Hearts, when South reasonably played dissuade the player the 7 from dummy (KQ95, KJ95 and a natural trick behind South’s Ace-King if who is on lead from QJ95 against KQJ5). Opening 1NT with East is void there, and led a Spade, from his his natural lead, and 14HCP and six Clubs is obvious. Queen-third. to draw his attention to a specific lead that The full deal good reasoning will allow him to find... 3 most of the time. ♠ KJ104 These Doubles involve ♥ A103 taking responsibility The Vikings (1) ♦ 107 by evaluating the cost ♣ K875 of a possible error, the balance between what ♠ Q95 N ♠ A8763 you have to gain and ♥ KQJ865 ♥ 9742 W E what you have to lose. ♦ Q65 ♦ 32 ♣ 10 S ♣ 42 W N E SOUTH ♠ 2 1♦ ♥ - 2♥ Pass 3♥ 6♣ ♦ AKJ984 Pass 7♣ Dble ♣ AQJ963 BeBRIDGE №06 JAN./FEB. 2021 55 ALAIN Post-mortem or in Diamonds (the Jack). If it is necessary LÉVY'S North thought that his King of Clubs and to urgently establish a trick - the setting trick LEADS his Ace of Hearts were enough to make - a Heart lead is called for; it is less deman- 7 Clubs regardless of the fact that the 6♣ ding than a Club lead. But a Club lead has the call is gambling in itself. Fred’s Double is advantage of being neutral. The tricky part legitimate, even if South could be void in is guessing what prompts a champion like Spades rather than Hearts: there is more to Helness to jump to 6♠ as soon as he learns of gain than to lose. The lead moves 30 IMPs a Club control in a balanced hand with 12-14 because in the other room they stopped in HCP. What if it was a second bluff, this time 6 Clubs and there are thirteen tricks on top with Ace-King of Hearts to lose? Or just a on the lead of the King of Hearts. bid coming from pure force? DEFENSIVE The full deal PLAY 4 ADVANCED LEVEL ♠ K63 ♥ A1052 The Vikings (2) ♦ AJ108 ♣ A4 ♠ J92 N ♠ Q4 ♥ K87 ♥ J93 W E My ♦ Q73 ♦ 652 ♣ 9872 S ♣ J10653 advice 4 W N E SOUTH ♠ A10875 Choose ♠ 1 ♥ Q64 your own ♦ ( ) Pass 2 Pass 2NT * ♦ K94 ♠ ♣ style Pass 3 Pass 4 ♣ KQ Pass 6♠ Choose your opening leads according to (*) 12-14 HCP Post-mortem your knowledge and Thomas Bessis led a Heart, the only lead your convictions. Each YOUR MARKS that gives declarer a chance to make twelve champion has his own ♣8 100 tricks, a chance that Geir Hegelmo did not style, but they are ♥7 70 let pass. Tor Helness’s jump to 6♠ with faithful to their logic and their sensitivity to 16HCP and a 4-4-3-2 opposite 12-14HCP the situation. It can’t Comments and 5-3-3-2 has only one explanation. The hit the bull’s eye every Same match, a few deals later. Unaffected by match is lost, we have to make a difference. time; a success rate going down in this grand slam, Geir and Tor The reasoning was flawed by the response of over 55% is already continue their boarding ax approach.